The latest drivers and software packages are for Windows 7 x64 only. They are the absolute latest versions and many aren't even listed on Dell's driver page. There are some hardware items not covered here which you can find updates for at http://support.dell.com/

I currently have the default driver which is 8.612. Looking at the ATI, there is a new catalyst suite that came out a few days ago, version 9.8 for the 4000 mobility series. Should I download that, or should I just go for the one listed on the dell site?

I'm a fairly advanced computer user (CS degree, etc), but I've had a horrible time trying to find a reasonably priced laptop that will run a 30" external monitor at 2560x1600.I finally decided if a an output other than DVI-D would work. I found the XPS 16 which looked like a really sexy laptop, and I checked to see that the the 4670 supports 2560x1600 in theory, and that the DisplayPort to DVI-D would work in theory. I found two other posters on a non-computer forum who said they ran 2560x1600 off an XPS 16.

I tried to verify with Dell that DisplayPort would support 2560x1600 with a DisplayPort to DVI-D adapter. I finally found a sales person that sounded reasonably intelligent, and had him contact tech support to verify that it would do so.

So, I started my XPS 16 a little over 24 hours ago, and the the reported resolution from the monitor is 1280x800, and I haven't found a way to override that in Catalyst. (and no, I wouldn't be happy with using a 1080p 12xx by xxxx resolution)

I've spent over an hour on the phone with tech support and can't get anyone that even seems to comprehend the issue (Are you sure your monitor supports that resolution? Is it turned on? Has it worked before at that resolution? etc.)

I THINK an issue is that the monitor is seeing the connection as single link DVI and so only reporting 1280x800, but I don't know....

I'm university student and ntb is meant to be carried almost daily (16" is ok for me), it's mainly for multimedia oriented jobs, some programming in C and Mathematica, some photoshop or even premiere (occasionaly), A LOT of movie watching. I also want it to be futureproof and well-built.

Dell XPS 1645 meets most of my criteria, but there are few things I'm unsure about...1) after reading a couple of reviews and many posts on this forum I'm really doubtful if RGB-LED is worth the extra money. I'm not doing colour sensitive job (however I do sometimes edit RAW images in PS), but i want things on the display to look natural, especially in FullHD movies... (and I'm occasional gamer too)

Those who had honor to work with RGB-LED: would you pay for it in my position???

And just to make sure I haven't overlooked something: biggest DISadvantages of RGB-LED are supposed to be: inaccurate colors, bigger power consumption and some heat produced; while advantages should be: 0,4" gain in size, wider gamut and (maybe) better brightness...

Do you know any more to be added?

2) I'm also considering usual Studio 17 with Core i7 720QM (almost the same config), because it should be cooler, it has numpad and place for additional hdd (I'd buy 80GB intel ssd 34nm for system while keeping stock 500GB for data, I think it's beatiful idea), but what I DISlike about studio 17 is: dimensions, weight, speakers and design (and maybe a bit worse overal built quality).

So which one do you think is better for me?

3) how does combined e-sata/usb work? Since I have a external e-sata drive I have to plug 2 cables at the moment: USB for power and e-sata... With this 2-in-1 port do I need only 1 special cable? Or is it meant to be either/or thing??? From the placement of combined e-sata/usb on the opposite side of ntb than other USBs I'd say that 1 cable should be enough,

I am looking to get a Studio XPS 16 soon, but can't quite decide on which model to get and had a few questions...

1) What is the battery life of the 1647 (i5) compared to the 1645 (i7) assuming they have the same specs. I've read that i5's should last longer, but I really couldn't find anything comparing the two for these systems.

2) When configuring the 1645 and 1647 side-by-side with the same specs. The 1647 is about the same price as the 1645, if not more (depending on which processor selected). I thought the i5's were supposed to be less expensive than the i7's. Since they are about the same price, would it be better to go with the i7? Any reason to choose the i5 over i7?

I noticed that the Studio 15 is pretty much the same as the Studio XPS 16 minus the RGBLED screen. I really don't know which to choose and really need some guidance from some expert people. Here's what I have in mind:

I have just received my new Studio XPS 1645 yesterday. since then i had been trying to install XP OS. then finally after being touched with dell, they said me that this machin is not compatible with XP Operating system. anyway, after that i tried to install vista ultimate and win7 dual boot. finally today i made it.

but the problem is both in VISTA and WINDOWS 7 the default font and icon is very small. in vista the taskbar icon is so small that they can hardly be seen. my screen is 15.6" widescreen with full hd (1920X1080). I have changed DPI Scalling to 120 DPI from the Default 96 DPI. but still the task bar icon (show desktop, switch between windows,internet explorer, mozilla firefox) is small. i have installed mozilla and it's font size has also become very small but clear(it seems). i m wondering is it they way in high resulation machine should appear. it's annoying. plz help me guys who is having this laptop.

I generally use my computer each day, and if I close the lid at night without shutting the computer off, in the morning the computer will be off.

That wouldn't be a bad thing except many times it'll shut the computer off so I lose everything that was opened up. But the only weird thing is that it won't happen every time.

I was just wondering if any of you have this problem and if there was some setting that I overlooked each time when I looked to change that. It's not a big thing, but I had a Dell computer provided by school and it would still be on in the morning after using it at night...........................

I own a studio xps 1645 i720qm 4gb ram with ati 1gb 4670 card. My speakers are pissing me off. I can only hear sound through my head phones. my speakers arent working. Worst case i tired diagnostics tools at the bios startup and during the tests i hear the sounds?!?!??! when I log in my speakers just go dead. I checked IDT panel and it shows that my headphones are plugged in when they really arent. I called Dell rep to help the replaced my speakers and after a week im having the same problem again. I kind of doubt my HDMI port cause the last time this happened was right wafter i watched movies in my TV through my laptop. please guys help me out this is pissing me off soo much..im starting to regret getting this machine. IM experiencing constant freeze-ups too. some times when i go from adapter power to batter power (Power saver mode specially) and some times it randomly freezes (CONSTANTLY). Please help me somehow. I tried even a fresh install.

I downloaded A07 and ran it. So while the bios was flashing, I removed the internet ethernet cable to plug it into my netbook, I got a white screen and then the screen turned blank, so i plugged it back it in. The system was still running in the background(loud fan noise). So I waited for 20 mins(system was still running) and then tried switching it off by holding the power button. It didnt help despite 3 attempts. So I removed the battery and switched on the system. CPU-Z indicates A07 and when I run A07 it says Im on A07.

I'm currently having some issues with the keyboard. It seems as if the two rows with Y and U are not responding.

Even from the Dell test thing. It happened that it would stop working for a short time, then work again and now it stop working again. It was intermittent and would always come back but now... I'm wondering will it ever come back?

What could I do? It's only 2 months old and I am out of the country, so I can't call support now. Could I make my warranty effective on other country?

I really want to order the New XPS 1645 with the i7 Core Processor. I was wondering are they pre-installing Windows 7 on any of them yet? I mean they just came out with the 1645 and anyone who orders like now will receive after the 22nd after Windows 7's general availability. I'm getting so sick and tired of waiting for them to start pre-installing Windows 7. NO ONE WANTS anything to do with Vista anymore and especially shipping as the default OS on pc's when its successor is less than 3 weeks away.

So I recieved my laptop yesterday and opened it up today. I got everything set up and messed around, yet had to go out for a little while. I left it off power yet when I went to start it up the screen didn't come on! The side light is constantly white when plugged in, and an external monitor works perfectly fine. Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot this issue? I there any button I could have pressed to cause this problem? Or is a call with dell my only answer?

Count me in the minority, but I've actually been pleased with the A07 BIOS revision. I'm curious about other opinions since I'd like to have a better understanding of the latest round of complaints.

As I understand the current situation:

The CPU no longer throttles when stressed by itself. With A03, running Prime95 on my 820QM at max brightness resulted in throttling. With A07, that's no longer the case. I get a consistent 13x multiplier. As a software engineer interested primarily in CPU horsepower for compiling and virtualization, this pleases me.

Gaming seems to work fine for a limited amount of time, but at some point stuttering occurs with some frequency. Which games exhibit this? Does this only occur at max settings in 1080p? At least one person was testing for throttling by running Prime95 in tandem with the game. Is that a reasonable real world test?

Prime95 and Furmark still results in throttling. Again, is this a reasonable real world test? Moving forward as more applications become multi-core aware and work is off-loaded to the GPU, I imagine system load will approach this simulated load... but is it realistic? My thought on the matter is that at some point heat becomes a factor, even with the excellent drop in temperatures that I've seen with GC-Extreme. A single fan and shared heat pipes aren't exactly an ideal design for that type of stress. The question is whether the heat dissipation is good enough.

In the event of GPU throttling, I've seen RivaTuner as a suggested workaround. Is it possible to lock the GPU clock to the maximum possible using RivaTuner without the CPU being throttled as a result?

Is the GPU really only throttling at a certain temperature threshold? I saw someone mention 84C as the magic number. Does that mean that you can run, say Prime95 and Furmark without throttling until the GPU hits 84C? Or in a more real world scenario, does that mean it's possible to game without apparent throttling until the GPU hits 84C? Wouldn't that mean you could further reduce (or eliminate) GPU throttling with better thermal paste? (For reference I've never seen my GPU load past 70C). Obviously, if that's a workaround, it would have been ideal for Dell to do this at the factory, but let's put that aside for now in the name of discussion.

I been using my 1645 lately and noticed that it always running hot, the fans are always running accelerated, my average temps for the cpu are high 50's to 60's and this is normal utilization and not using hard core apps, i was wondering what are your average temps you guys get...